So This Is Christmas

Merry Christmas is such an infectious feeling I like to feel that way all year around.

So if you are visiting just before Christmas, just after Christmas or even here on Christmas day I am sure you will find something of interest for you and in the spirit of Christmas.

It may be said that Christmas is no longer a celebration but this must be spoken by people that have never had trouble closing their eyes on Christmas Eve in an expectation of what maybe left for them on the carpet under the tree.

I continue to look forward to the surprise on my Grandchild's faces to this day at Christmas events.

Merry Christmas - Merry Christmas - Merry Christmas

Friday, March 27, 2009

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Crockpot Cooking

By KC Kudra

Cooking with a crockpot can make it easy to have dinner waiting when you come home. By filling up the crockpot before you leave for work or school in the morning, you can be greeted by the delicious scent of dinner when you walk in the door at the end of the day.

Tips for Using Your Crockpot

There are a few tips that will help your crockpot meals turn out perfect every time. First, never overfill the crockpot. Make sure when you are filling it up that the pot is between half and three-quarters full. Too full, and your food will not cook enough. If the pot is too empty, the food will cook too quickly and you will come home to a dinner that is overdone.

If you are using fresh vegetables, put them on the bottom. They will take longer to cook than your meat. This is a bit hard to believe, but it is true. If you are using frozen vegetables, place them on top of your meat, since they will cook faster.

If you take the time to brown your meat before putting it in the crockpot, the fat will get rendered a bit and the natural sugars in the meat will caramelize. Your meal will look more appetizing, and you can deglaze the pan afterwards and add the delicious drippings to the crockpot for flavor. It also helps if you remove any skin or excess fat from your meat before you start.

Tomatoes, mushrooms, and other tender ingredients should be added towards the end of cooking. Dairy products should not go in earlier than the last 30 minutes. When adding dairy, make sure your crockpot is on low so they do not curdle. Thickeners like cornstarch can be added in the last hour. Be sure your temperature is on high to activate the thickening. Pasta and rice should be added only during the last 45 minutes so they do not turn to mush.

Do not take the lid off during cooking unless absolutely necessary. If you need to add more ingredients, add them all at once so you only need to open the crockpot once. Opening the lid adds about a half hour to your cooking time every time you do it.

Crockpot Recipes

These easy tips can help make your crockpot useful and versatile. You can make almost anything in the crockpot. Pulled pork with barbecue sauce is easy in the crockpot, as is Asian chicken. Stew and chili are old standbys for the crockpot, as is chicken soup. Vegetable dishes like creamed corn with cream cheese is delicious for a side dish.

You can even bake breads and cakes in the crockpot! Desserts like apple brown betty, boiled peanuts and many different cakes can easily be made in the crockpot. As you can see, crockpots are even more versatile than most people think.

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Michael Jackson - Famous Pop Singer

By C. R. Bolden

Michael Joseph Jackson who is born on August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana, an industrial suburb of Chicago, Illonois. He is an American recording artist, extraordinary entertainer, and a successful businessman.

The seventh child out of nine of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene at the age of 11 as a member of The Jackson 5 and began a solo career in 1971 while still a member of the group.

Referred to as the "King of Pop" in subsequent years, five of his solo studio albums have become some of the world's best-selling records: Off the Wall in (1979), Thriller in (1982), Bad in (1987), Dangerous in (1991) and HIStory in (1995).

In the early 1980s, he became a dominant figure in popular music and the first African-American entertainer to amass a strong crossover following on MTV. The popularity of his music videos airing on MTV, such as "Beat It", "Billie Jean" and Thriller"credited for transforming the music video into an art form and a promotional tool"helped bring the relatively new channel to fame.

Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made Jackson an enduring staple on MTV into the 1990s. With stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of physically complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk. His musical sound and vocal style influenced numerous hip hop, pop and contemporary R&B artists.

Jackson has donated and raised millions of dollars for beneficial causes through his foundation, charity singles and support of 39 charities. However, other aspects of his personal life"including his changing appearance and behavior"generated significant controversy which damaged his public image.

Mr Jackson has been married twice and fathered three children, all of which caused further controversy. The singer has experienced health concerns since the early 1990s and conflicting reports regarding the state of his finances since the late 1990s.

One of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame twice, his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records"including one for "Most Successful Entertainer of All Time""13 Grammy Awards, 13 number one singles in his solo career"more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era"and the sale of over 750 million units worldwide. Jackson's highly publicized personal life, coupled with his successful career, has made him a part of popular culture for almost four decades. He has been cited as one of the world's most famous men.

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Convert Your Car To Burn Water - Do It Yourself HHO Gas Car Kit

By Pete Roberts

HHO gas is the latest innovation to increase gas mileage you may have seen it in the news. When you make an HHO fuel cell for you car or truck you will increase power and improve emissions. Your car will be a water hybrid of sorts by using water that is broken down to HHO gas or brown's gas.

An HHO Generator creates HHO gas and is not exactly zero point energy but you can expect to see and increase in gas mileage of 20 - 50%. Some are even seeing increases above 50%. By adding extra cells it is often possible to increase gas mileage even more this is why it is best to have plans for a HHO kit.

Many HHO gas car kits do not come cheap and can be several hundred dollars for a cheap one. If you are thinking of a fleet of vehicles you may want to consider testing one vehicle first. If you want to save lots of money HHO plans from a reliable source may be your best purchase.

HHo gas is can be burned in gas or diesel engines. This technology could help improve both diesel and gas mileage. By using using HHO gas you are using a gas that can be used by your engine as a supplement to help reduce your consumption of gasoline. This HHO gas is then mixed with your gasoline or diesel just before it enters the engine resulting in possible gas savings.

The benefits of a HHO gas hybrid technology are increased gas mileage in some cases doubling it, increase horsepower, better or smoother running engine and less emissions. When you buy a kit you often pay hundreds sometimes thousands of dollars and eventually it will pay for its self. They can be used on cars, trucks gas or diesel engines and take up very little space under the hood and require no major modifications. If for any reason such as the sale of your car you would like to remove the system it can be removed in several minutes without leaving a trace. This kits can actually be made at home for under $100 dollars per vehicle now that is cheap.

Well through the process of electrolysis the fuel cell filled with water and a catalyst such as baking soda is introduced to electrical current. This current is supplied by your vehicles battery and hydroxy or HHO gas is produced as the electrical current passes through usually stainless steel wires or plates. It is that simple. It is amazing how much energy water can store because on average driving the cell only needs to be topped off about once a month or less.

There is often plenty of room under most hoods to put a fuel cell or many for better efficiency. Larger engines may require or benefit more with extra cells. What is nice is it requires very little modification to your vehicle and can be removed within minutes and no one would even notice you had it installed. An HHO fuel saver should give you better gas mileage.

Brown's or HHO gas forums exist and much of this technology is still experimental. The goal is to improve gas mileage and reduce emissions. There are plenty of references in the news, online and in forums to attribute to devices that are successfully operating on HHO gas.

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Best Female Car Insurance

By Thomas P. Evans

According to statistics, women have fewer accidents than men. Because of this, women get lower insurance rates than men. Nonetheless, most women still are in the hope of getting the cheapest car insurance. Fortunately, there are still several possible ways for women to lower down there insurance rates. Here's how to do that:

Get multiple quotes

Choose lower group car

Maximize discounts

Car insurance rates can vary greatly for a few thousand dollars among insurers under the same policy for women. Get as many quotes as you can so that you will be able to choose the best deal. To make this task faster and easier, simply log on to the Internet and visit a comparison website. A comparison website is like an online insurance broker that allows you to see hundreds of quotes from top insurers. You will only be asked to fill up a simple questionnaire for the insurers to get some basic information from you particularly on your driving history. This will not take you for a while to be able to arrive at hundreds of car insurance for females.

Purchase a car from the lower group. These cars have low cost of maintenance and are inexpensive to repair when damaged. Low type group cars are also fuel efficient so you will be able to save more money on your gasoline on top of the discount given when you drive a lower group car.

Another option for women to lower down their car insurance rates is to maximize discounts. if you own a couple of car, insure them under one insurance company. You may also choose the same insurance company for your other insurance needs such as home or health insurance.

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Dont Start Spring Cleaning Until You Read These Tips!

By Argo Dukes

Follow these simple guidelines to get your home fresh and ready for the season.

1. The doormats must be in a welcoming condition. It is the one who has to make sure that there is no dirt entering our house. So washing them on regular basis can make it most effective.

2. Walls, cabinets, baseboards, and woodwork must be cleaned. You may think that the walls are clean as the dirt falls on the floor. You a right to some extent. The dirt does fall on the floor but some of it does stick to the wall which does need to be cleaned regularly. Moping with a sponge can be easy work. Usage of two buckets can be done, one with detergent water and the other to wringing the sponge. Dry the walls and the woodwork with a dry cloth.

3. The vacuum cleaner must be used correctly. Grandmas theory says that all the furniture should be off the carpet so the vacuum can run thru the complete carpet. And the new method says to move the furniture to a little left or right, clean the accessible area that was under the furniture and then put it back. The choice is yours to select.

4. Ceiling fixture is a must clean. Use a cloth and a vacuum cleaner to clean fans and air-conditioners to remove dust and dirt.

5. Cleaning your light fixtures is necessary as that does bring new light in your life. Use of simple few things can make cleaning light fixture easy. Using a stepladder, sponge, polish cloth and extended-reach dust-and-dirt-removal tools, which are easily available at your local hardware store are advisable.

6. The condenser coil of the refrigerator can be tough to clean but necessary, the reason being the dust that is gathered on the coil can shut down the unit causing it to overheat.

The coil which is usually found behind the fridge can be cleaned by using a long-handled bottle brush and a vacuum cleaner with the correct attachment.

If the coils are not reachable then you can just pull it a few feet and then clean it easily. Make sure you also clean the floor once you are done with the coil. If you are lucky, you might also find some interesting things you left behind the fridge.

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The Good News About Under the Cabinet Lighting Techniques

By Tom Sanderrs

There are many under the cabinet lighting fixtures to choose from in the marketplace and the selection continues to grow and grow. To find the best options, look for stores that offer a varied selection of fixtures to take full advantage of the range. Many styles are available and the range is full of functional and/or fashionable items that can suit any budget.

Under the counter lighting can be decorative or act as utility lighting. You can use this type of lighting for different purposes. One of the most common is in the kitchen. This is an area where it is very important to have good lighting. Cabinets tend to produce dark spots in your kitchen which can prove to be quite dangerous. If you do not have adequate light for your working spaces you can easily have an accident when chopping and preparing food.

A kitchen needs to be clean and hygienic as well as functional. Hygiene can be hard to maintain if you do not have enough light in the kitchen area, so some well placed lights can do wonders for your kitchen's cleanliness as well as its overall functionality.

Under cabinet lighting fixtures are usually hidden so that they don't detract from the natural look of a kitchen. They can really bring out the beauty of natural timbers and granite as well as other popular kitchen surfaces with warm and revealing light that just seems to shine from nowhere.

Under cabinet lighting fixtures are also very economical and easy to maintain. In fact, sometimes larger lights can be removed and an energy saving created by using the smaller lights in more efficient areas. This is good for your bank balance as well as the environment.

There are some different types of lighting to consider when you are thinking of under cabinet lighting fixtures for your home.

* Puck lighting: this is a type of small track lighting. This lighting can be directed at a focal point. This is useful for enhancing small decoration pieces in niches or accentuating other areas of your room.

* Fluorescent light bulbs are best to use for utility lighting fixtures. They are low energy lights that give a generous amount of light. This is ideal for kitchen counters, where good lighting is needed. Wet bars and bathrooms are also good places to use this type of lighting, these areas can be notorious for badly lit corners that can cause an accident when wet and slippery.

In order to find what you need you will be wise to seek out stores that have a large selection of under the cabinet lighting fixtures. You can find these online by searching in Google. The bigger stores will have picture galleries so that you can get an idea of what you need before you go to the store.

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Cheap Student Auto Insurance

By Therese Milano

For those who just finished Drivers Ed., passed their driving test, and is now a proud owner of a freshly-issued drivers license, congratulations! You are now one with the many millions of drivers coursing through the roads and highways of America today. However, have you already given thought about your auto insurance coverage? You may already know that most states require every driver/motorist to carry adequate levels of car insurance/ liability coverage and that driving without one is a serious offense. Being a young, student driver does not make you an exception to the rule.

Most states have financial responsibility laws requiring anyone who operates a vehicle to be able to properly compensate anyone else they may happen to injure (and pay for damaged properties, as well) in the event of a car accident. This compensation would usually come in the form of auto insurance coverage. For those still in school, Student Auto Insurance policy is a must.

Below are important things to remember before buying an affordable student auto insurance policy:

Expect rates for students/young people to be higher than average. This is due to the fact that this age group has the highest risk (both to themselves, and to everyone else.) of getting or causing a car accident.

Good Student Discounts are readily available for those who have student drivers that maintains good grades in school (average of B or Higher.)

Reduce your risk as a young driver by completing a state-accredited Defensive Driving Course. This would teach you how to better avoid car-accidents and collisions while on the road. You'll also be glad to know that most insurance carriers give additional discounts for doing this.

Older/pre-owned or "low-profile' cars would costs less to insure due to a lower market value and less popularity among thieves.

You can save a lot of time and effort if you begin your search for an affordable student auto insurance policy through the Internet. With the many auto insurance portals and websites offering free access to the latest rates, shopping and comparing for the best rates has never been easier.

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Comparing car insurance policies

By Chris Turner

It is extremely important to look at various car insurance companies before deciding on which company to take out insurance with. There are hundreds of different car insurance companies in the United states alone and it can get overwhelming deciding which one to take out a policy with.

The first thing you should find out is the age of the Insurance Company. Find out how long theyve been in business. This is important because you dont want to deal with a company that is relatively new and perhaps inexperienced.

The insurance companys financial status is also something that should be looked at. When you take out an insurance policy with a company you are essentially handing over your monetary liability should something go wrong. Would the insurance company be able to handle that liability if they themselves are run down financially?

An excellent way to assess the efficiency of an insurance company is to look at third party independent ratings. These ratings assess various insurance companies based on their financial positions and can be a good indicator of whether a company is a good choice to deal with or not.

Request a car insurance quote from the company and see how they deal with you as a potential customer. You would want your insurance company to be as customer friendly as possible as you trust them with your potential monetary liability should your car get into an accident.

See how accessible the insurance company is. If and when you do need them in an emergency are they a phone call away? You need them to be easily contactable so your claim can be filed as fast as possible.

Compare price quotes from different insurance companies. Do not immediately look for the lowest price. There may be some companies that offer lower prices but also offer poor cover for your car. Do not risk adequate car insurance cover in favor of a lower price.

Finally, it is important to decide beforehand which form of cover you are looking for your car. It is a well known fact that insurance salesman are some of the most convincing salesman on the face of this plant. Be prepared before meeting one of them and stand your ground!

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